Teacher Tips for Controlling Temper Tantrums in Children with Autism

written by: rosy
• edited by: Sarah Malburg
• updated: 1/5/2012

All children have temper tantrums sometimes, but most grow out of the habit by the time they attend school. Autistic children can be upset easily and this may lead to a tantrum at school. Some tips are given here that may help calm autistic children when they have a temper tantrum in the class.

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Recognize the Causes

Autistic children are different from other children in many ways. There are many reasons that autistic children have temper tantrums in and out of the classroom. Below are some of the causes of temper tantrums in children with autism.

Autistic children are unable to communicate or socially interact with others. Children with autism are unable to express their feelings. Lack of communication makes autistic children frustrated and apt to throw a tantrum.

Autistic children are easily excited by unpleasant noises. Autistic children get irritated by certain unexpected sounds.

Autistic children work in a routine. Any change in their routine activities or slightest moderation can cause rage of anger or frustration which they are unable to express verbally due to lack of communication skills.

Autistic children may not understand how to display and understand appropriate emotional reactions. Children with autism fail to links words with their actual meaning. For example, If a child smiles at an autistic child, they often fail to make the link that the other child is happy and is being friendly.

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Tips to Deal with Temper Tantrums in Autistic Children

Parents, teachers and other care givers dealing with any autistic child must be calm and patient and should not overreact to the tamper tantrums of an autistic child.

The most important thing to calm down the situation is to remove the child from the situation. Mostly, the cause lies in the immediate environment of the child. By judging the cause and removing it immediately you can calm an autistic child back to normal.

A tight hug may be helpful in some cases to calm a child in tantrum. As stated earlier, unpleasant sounds may irritate the autistic child. In such situations, either control the source of the sound or give them a tight hug which helps the child to calm down.

Sometimes an autistic child feels more free with one parent as compared to the other or with a brother or sister. In such cases allow interaction, if the child behaves properly in front of them and is calm.

Last but not least, parents must try to understand the message of the child through their temper tantrums. It is possible that an autistic child might be trying to explain some important need through tamper tantrums which they are unable to communicate properly.